Bangladeshi writer cleared of sedition charges

Dhaka, Oct 25 (IANS) Prominent Bangladeshi writer and poet Shahriar Kabir, who visited India to meet minority Hindu families that had fled his country following poll-time violence in 2001, has been cleared of sedition charges by the country’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID).Shahriar Kabir, who met a cross-section of opinion-makers, including then Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, as part of an effort to convene a South Asian conference against religious exremism, was arrested here on his return from Kolkata in December 2001.

CID official Fazlul Kabir submitted a final report clearing Shahriar Kabir, a former freedom fighter, in a sedition case, submitting a chargesheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka on Oct 18, The Daily Star said Saturday.

The court will decide Dec 3 whether the final report would be accepted.

In the report, the official mentioned that the charges brought against Shahriar Kabir were found to be false, fabricated and concocted. He urged that the writer be discharging from the sedition case.

Shahriar Kabir was arrested at the Zia International Airport under Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) on Nov 22, 2001 on his return from Kolkata. Police also seized some cassettes and CDs on torture of minorities in Bangladesh after the national election on Oct 1, 2001 from his possession.

On Dec 8 the same year, a sedition case was filed with the Airport Police Station against Shahriar Kabir.

The then investigation officer Munshi Atiqur Rahman took Shahriar Kabir on remand and tried to pressurise him to give confessional statements, but failed, the newspaper said.